Man who delivered ketamine to Matthew Perry's home sentenced to 2 years in federal prison
Erik Fleming, who pleaded guilty to drug distribution charges in connection with the case regarding the 2023 death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry, was sentenced to two years in federal prison during a hearing in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday.
The 55-year-old Hawthorne resident pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. He'll spend three years on supervised release after his prison term.
"I'm regretfully sorry," Fleming told reporters outside the courtroom after his sentencing.
Perry, best known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing on "Friends" from 1994 to 2004, was found dead by his assistant in the backyard hot tub of his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28, 2023.
As part of the guilty plea, Fleming admitted to acting as a middleman between Perry's former live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and Jasveen Sangha, the woman prosecutors refer to as the "Ketamine Queen."
Court documents say Fleming negotiated prices for ketamine that he'd sell to Iwamasa after acquiring the drug from Sangha. He'd then keep a portion of the payment, which he called a "logistics fee," before giving the rest to Sangha.
Fleming delivered the ketamine to Iwamasa despite knowing the assistant "was not a medical doctor and did not have training or experience administering controlled substances," court documents say.
On Oct. 24, 2023, just four days before Perry died from "acute effects of ketamine," according to the autopsy report, Fleming delivered ketamine to Perry's house in the Pacific Palisades.
Fleming deleted text messages with Sangha in the immediate aftermath of Perry's death. Just two days after, he messaged Sangha via Signal, asking her to call him so he could "bounce ideas off" her.
"I'm 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry]. Only his Assistant," Fleming wrote, according to court documents. "So the Assistant was the enabler."
Sangha was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison last month for her role in the operation. She was the third person to be sentenced in relation with the case.
Salvador Plasencia, a former physician, was sentenced in December to 30 months in prison for illegally distributing ketamine to Perry and his assistant. A second doctor, Mark Chavez, was sentenced two weeks later to three years of supervised release with special conditions of eight months of home confinement and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service. Chavez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Iwamasa will be the final charged individual to be sentenced. He's set to be sentenced on May 27 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.